“We’re back to this now?” He jeered.

“It’s a freaking miracle. He speaks.”

“You think I’m confusing? God Harper, that’s rich.” He laughed once and narrowed his eyes at me, “This coming from the girl who repeatedly told me to stay away but fell into my arms at the first sign of trouble with her boyfriend? Do you want me to back off, or don’t you?” Chase took a step forward, I took one back and he matched it, whispering in my ear, “Why keep fighting the inevitable baby? You want me. Even now your body is shaking because you’re trying to keep yourself from touching me.” Brushing the tips of his fingers across my hand he smiled, “One touch from me and you’re covered in goose bumps. Tell me now that you want me to go away.”

“You’re such an ass.” I growled and took another step back, “I just don’t understand why we can’t be friends all the time. I don’t want to be your friend on Sunday and the girl you don’t acknowledge every other day of the week. I want the same thing every day. So you decide what that is and let me know.” I moved to walk around him, but he put his arm up against the wall of the hallway, blocking me in.

“I’ll tell you, if you tell me.”

“Tell you what?”

“I feel like I’m just one in a group of Harper’s many guys, but I’m not getting the benefits. So tell me, if I act like your friend, will I get to fuck you too?”

My fist was aiming straight for that perfectly shaped nose but Chase was slammed into the wall before I could connect. Brandon’s forearm was pressed against Chase’s throat and his tan face was turning red with anger.

“What the hell did you just say to her?” He growled and pressed Chase harder into the wall.

Chase’s only response was to spit in Brandon’s face.

Brandon’s other hand grabbed Chase’s shirt to bring him forward while the arm that had been against his throat delivered a hard blow to Chase’s stomach. Chase swung and hit the wall when Brandon moved, but he’d moved right into Chase’s left hook. I started yelling at them to stop and somehow they ended up on the floor with Chase on top. Just as the other housemates came out of their rooms, Brandon knocked Chase’s head to the side and Chase spit again on Brandon’s face, this time it was full of blood.

“Shit, again?” Brad huffed as he ran past me and grabbed Chase’s arms to pin them back. Derek kept Brandon on the floor while Zach helped Brad haul Chase towards a hall on the opposite side of the living room.

“Holy Crap Princess,” Drew slung his arm around my shoulders and I shook it off, “you really drive guys crazy don’t you? This has been the most entertaining two months we’ve ever had in this house, and it all seems to come back to you.”

“Drew.”

“Yeah Princess?”

“If you want to have kids at some point in life, I suggest you leave.”

He tsked at me, but wisely moved away, “So touchy. Hey B, you uh, got a little something on your face.”

“I’m about to let him up.” Derek warned and Drew took off for the back yard.

As soon as Derek let go, Brandon was up and stalking toward his bathroom, not saying a word to me. Derek handed me Brandon’s back pack and nodded toward his bedroom.

“Wait for him in there, I’m gonna go talk to him though I’m positive I already know what he’s gonna say. Just give him a few minutes, and Harper?”

“Hmm?”

“Stay away from Chase. It’ll make all of this a lot easier.”

I blushed fiercely and nodded before shutting myself in Brandon’s room. Ten minutes of sitting there alone felt like three hours. I listened to numerous doors open and slam shut, raised voices on different sides of the house and what must have been Chase taunting Brandon. Next thing I know all the guys were yelling at each other and Brandon started threating Chase. The door opened, and I watched Derek and Drew struggle to push Brandon in.

“Chill man!” Derek puffed as he kept shouldering Brandon’s chest so he couldn’t leave, “He’s doing it to piss you off more, just calm down.”

“She’s mine!” Brandon growled and pushed forward again.

“Yeah, she’s yours and right now you’re scaring the hell out of her. Calm down!”

Brandon turned and stopped trying to force his way out when he saw me. As soon as the other two were out of the way, he slammed the door shut and locked it, but didn’t turn back to me. He rested his head against the door, one of his hands pressed against the wall.

I started to move off the bed, but his voice stopped me.

“Don’t. Give me a minute.”

Four tense minutes later and I stood up anyway, “I’m going to go –”

“I’ll take you to your dorm,” He finally looked at me and shook his head, “never mind I’ll get Derek to take you.”

My stomach dropped. I had been planning on going outside to give him more time; I wasn’t expecting him to want me to actually leave. Usually he was trying to stretch our “weekends only” rule, this was the first night since Saturday that we were supposed to be together, and he wanted me to go back to the dorm. He didn’t even want to be the one to take me. Was he that mad at me for the fight with Chase? My throat closed up, so I simply nodded and grabbed my duffel bag.

“Uh, will you please take me to a hotel?” I asked Derek after we were in his car.

“Hotel? Don’t you want to go to your dorm?”

“No, Bree’s having Konrad stay there tonight. Just take me to a hotel.”

He pursed his lips but didn’t say anything until we were at the entrance of the closest place. “Don’t be too hard on Brandon, kay? Try to forgive him, he feels really bad for doing this to you.”

What? Doing what to me? Oh my God, is he going to break up with me? I didn’t ask him to get in a fight with Chase, I had been about to take care of it myself. My eyes watered and I couldn’t even thank Derek for the ride, afraid that if I opened my mouth I’d start sobbing.

Derek got out of his car and walked with me up to the front desk. I still couldn’t speak so he told the woman in the business suit behind the counter that I needed a room for the night. When she asked for a card to go on file he pulled out his wallet. Grabbing his arm, I shook my head quickly and the tears started falling.

“I already can’t believe I’m about to leave you here, Princess. Give me some peace of mind knowing that I didn’t make you pay for a room because of what just happened.” He handed his card to the woman who was shooting daggers at Derek. Once I had the keycard in my hand, he hugged me awkwardly and stepped back, “Let someone know if you need anything.”

I heard the woman mutter “Asshole.” under her breath when he walked out the doors. It wasn’t until I was in the elevator I realized how that must have looked to her. With my tears and what he said, that definitely made him look awful. Poor Derek.

As soon as I was in the room, I curled up onto the large bed and let my heart break once again for the man I had a feeling I would always love. He called an hour later, but I was already devastated with what I knew he was going to say, so I ignored the call and turned my phone off. Maybe he would take that as my acknowledgment of what he no longer wanted. Me.

Loud pounding woke me some time later and I had a momentary freak-out when I didn’t realize where I was at first. The pounding started again and I looked at the door, I had no idea what time it was, but Brandon had called right before ten, so I knew it was really late now. Was there some drunk trying to get into what they thought was their room?

“Harper, baby open the door.”

My eyes widened and I scrambled off the bed. God, I should have just answered the phone. Break up over the phone would have been much easier than face to face. Taking a few deep breaths, I unlocked the door and cracked it open.

Brandon stepped in and pulled me into his arms, roughly bringing his mouth to mine. “What the hell are you doing here sweetheart?”

Me? What was he doing, and why was he kissing me?

“I’ve been going out of my mind, why’d you turn your phone off?

“I–I didn’t want to talk to you.”

His face and arms fell.

“I couldn’t, I couldn’t handle you breaking up with me.”

“Whoa, wait…what? Break up with you? Why the hell would I break up with you?”

I floundered for a minute trying to remember everything that he and Derek had said, “Because you…isn’t that…wasn’t that why you wanted me to leave?”

“No!” He hunched down and cupped my face, “I thought I scared you with that fight, I thought you wanted to get away from me.”

A sob escaped my chest and hot tears streamed down my cheeks again as I shook my head.

“Baby,” he crooned and wrapped his arms around me again, “are you insane? How could you think I wouldn’t want to be with you? Seeing your face in the bedroom, you looked terrified and I hated that you saw that. I shouldn’t have lost it like that in front of you.”

“So we’re not breaking up?”

“God no.”

A huge wave of relief washed through me, “I was scared in your room, but it was because I thought you were mad at me. I thought you were mad that you got into another fight because of me. And I hated that everyone had to get in on it.”

“Harper, I would fight anyone, anytime for you.” He kissed me softly and moved back to the door, “I’ll be right back, alright?”

Before I could say anything, he was out the door and jogging down the hall. When he came back a handful of minutes later, he picked me up and without breaking our kiss laid me down on the bed.

“Where’d you go?” I asked breathlessly when his lips moved across my jaw.

“I rented the room until Sunday morning.” He grinned impishly and I hurried to pull his shirt off his body.